Recognized Paint mode for hulls in creative mode.

[Asypha]

I am aware of the current method of using the replace tool to adjust the color of a build. But it has shortcomings related to block angle as well as needing to select each type of block individually to replace. But it would be awesome to be able to simply select a new color and have anything you target (however that would be implemented, adv. build mode brush, a beam, etc...), shift over to that color if such a block exists.

For example:
You built a ship with an external hull consisting of Red Standard Hull, Blue Crystal Armor, Grey Advanced Armor, Ice and Lava. Then, using the paint tool, you could select a new color, say, Green. You then proceed to hit every external block on the ship. Once you are done you would now have a ship with an outer hull consisting of Green Standard Hull, Green Crystal Armor, Green Advanced Armor, Ice and Lava. All block orientations preserved, all types preserved, to the user, it was a simple color swap.

I hope that this suggestion is clear enough to be considered. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

 

[kiraen]

shortcomings related to block angle

This is not a 'shortcoming'. It is a bug and will get fixed eventually.

I must admit, this is a new take on a common suggestion. I'm not sure how well this could be implemented, but it's better then some of the other ideas.

 

[Malacodor]

We should have just grey blocks and paint in the inventory. In build mode we would then pick a color and all newly placed blocks would have the selected color, as long as we have enough paint. With this and OP's suggestion we would have way cleaner inventories.

 

[cyberus111]

An extension/combining of this concept would to be to allow in the shipyard, a player (with paint in inventory) to repaint a ship.

However ... I'd say with the OPs idea instead of trying for a all out everything color changed it should be one type of armor block ie: hull, standard, advanced, crystal armor isn't painted after all.

 

[jgames666]

We should have just grey blocks and paint in the inventory. In build mode we would then pick a color and all newly placed blocks would have the selected color, as long as we have enough paint. With this and OP's suggestion we would have way cleaner inventories.

I like this idea. what would be neat is if they could accept any color in the color spectrum (but that's another tangent). The ship could have up to 10 profiles of each type of hull block then you could select and paint each group individually.

So say you want to use blue for the exterior, teal for the interior, and black for the thrusters cover. You would set profile one, two, and three to Exterior, Interior, and Thruster Cover. Then you would select the profile and place blocks with it selected and they are assigned to that profile.

After the ship is finished you select the profile and click set color, and it paints all the blocks in that profile. Or you can set color as you start so you see the color while placing blocks in the profiles to ensure you do not make any mistakes.

 

[Jaycephus]

Paint should be abstracted away completely, IMO. Many low-level details of mechanical building are. Fasteners (bolts, screws, etc) are.
At the very least, it should be removed from hull/armor block manufacturing. You should just make hull, period, not colorized hull. Metal is not plastic. You don't colorize metal in the casting/rolling/forging process. You paint it after assembly, or components are anodized for color in a post-process, etc.

Sure, let the build be done with "pre-painted" blocks to save time if you know you want a certain color, but it could just as easily be built from grey blocks and painted afterwards if you have a "paint gun" and apply the desired color.

Given the complexity of manufacturing, and the additional things being added, removing paint manufacturing entirely would save a lot of tedium in survival games. It SHOULD be abstracted away entirely. But at the minimum, remove the concept of manufacturing colored blocks. The paint is only required for applying paint, or building with painted blocks in survival, not manufacturing the blocks as already colored. That removes some manufacturing complexity.

Additionally, paint should be applied through a shader, not purely through the texture. This would future-proof Starmade, even if it is currently limited to 15 or so colors. It would permit more quickly altering the color palette. Right now there are 'effectively' 24 different color-shades, but 39 block ID sets (several are very similarly shaded, reducing unique color-shades down to 24). Actually, some might point out that the current palette is really closer to no more than 15 unique color-shades due to how similar many 'unique' shades are.

Spoiler: block color palette

Instead of having to redo texture sets just to correct the color palette, as some server owners have done (repeatedly over time as things change), the color pallet could be customized through a single text file and easily be made unique per server, such as having a more Star Wars oriented color palette. If 5 hull block data bits can be assigned to color, then you could have a palette of 32 colors. This could come from the Activation bit, and 4 HP bits. That only leaves a value of 8 levels of health for armor blocks, but until they fix armor health, you wouldn't notice it. Paper armor doesn't need 128 levels of damage stored in it. "Was it hit? Yes. It's dead, Jim." I would say that 8 levels even after armor is working better is possibly good enough.

Then in the glorious future, if a 4th byte is added, the color palette could go to 128 or 256 with simple changes and no affect to the texture sheets.

 

[Raisinbat]

I want a painting effect for weapons!!! GIMME!!!